Heidi Zak spent the previous decade excited about bras so thousands and thousands of ladies and bra wearers don’t must. That’s the thought behind ThirdLove, the San Francisco–primarily based lingerie model Heidi began in 2012 with co-founders Ra’el Cohen and David Spector.
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“When you’ve got a great-fitting bra on, it’s best to by no means give it some thought,” says Heidi. “You shouldn’t regulate your strap. You shouldn’t really feel the wire poking in. You shouldn’t really feel uncomfortable.”
Following a lower than stellar purchasing expertise wherein Heidi purchased a bra that didn’t match proper, she thought, “There’s gotta be one thing higher.”
Heidi’s expertise is shared by the 80% of ladies who’re all sporting the unsuitable bra dimension. ThirdLove is fixing this downside by utilizing expertise and knowledge to supply twice as many sizing choices and instruments to assist people discover the correct dimension.
On this episode of Shopify On Location, Heidi shares how ThirdLove discovered its product market match by serving to ladies discover their perfect bra match.
Accumulating buyer suggestions and knowledge earlier than launch
Since sizing and match have been an important facets for Heidi and her co-founders, they enlisted the assistance of potential prospects to attempt on their samples. “We have been a scrappy early stage startup,” says Heidi. “And so we put an advert on Craigslist to get product suggestions.”
The ladies of San Francisco embraced the invite. Lots of entered ThirdLove’s two-storey walkup rental house to get undressed and check out the model’s bras.
This early pre-launch knowledge assortment was essential for ThirdLove because it examined out the idea of half cups, one thing distinctive to the model.
“Sneakers have half sizes, now bras do too,” says Heidi.
Constructing belief by way of product ensures
One of many main methods ThirdLove helps people discover their perfect match is thru its digital becoming room. The seamless stream of questions, imagery, and suggestions for measuring has allowed greater than 18 million ladies discover their dimension—and infrequently, it’s not the scale they anticipated.
“Sixty-five % to seventy % of ladies who do our becoming room on-line come to search out out we’re recommending a dimension that’s completely different than the scale they’re sporting,” says Heidi. “That’s a giant leap of religion.”
To ease the influence of that leap, ThirdLove ran a program known as Strive Earlier than You Purchase, permitting prospects to check out bras freed from threat (prospects pay solely the delivery price) to completely expertise the ThirdLove distinction.
“That advertising and marketing program within the early days of ThirdLove earlier than we had model recognition was big for us, as a result of it actually bought prospects over the hurdle of being concerned about making an attempt a brand new model and a brand new dimension,” Heidi says.
Adapting to evolving buyer wants
So much has modified previously decade, together with prospects’ preferences for bras. It’s an evolution ThirdLove has tailored to by rising its product choices. “We constructed our enterprise with the underwire bra because the core,” says Heidi. “Throughout COVID, we noticed a surge in demand for wi-fi.”
Not solely did ThirdLove supply extra wi-fi choices, it additionally entered the sports activities bra market. Different manufacturers historically use letter sizing for sports activities bras (small, medium, giant). ThirdLove took a special method.
“We launched sports activities bras a few 12 months in the past, and that’s been actually wonderful, as a result of there’s numerous firms promoting sports activities bras, however they’re probably not coming at it from the match perspective that we do,” says Heidi. “So our sports activities bras have a cup and a band related to them, similar to common bra sizing.”
Along with sports activities bras, ThirdLove continues to satisfy prospects the place they’re by launching new merchandise primarily based on tendencies and demand: The corporate has lately ventured into each athletic put on and loungewear.
To listen to extra about ThirdLove’s connection to San Francisco and its journey from fundraising to retail enlargement, hearken to Heidi’s full interview on Shopify Masters.